Pro: Point-and-shoot camera has two lenses and image sensors letting you capture 3D images. Lets you view 3D on camera in naked eye.

Con: Complicated. Quality of 3D effect on many resulting images is so-so or gimmicky. Options for viewing 3D are limited without fetching third-party software. Though pocket-size, camera is larger and heavier than typical point-and-shoots.

This should be an ideal time to sell a point-and-shoot digital camera whose claim to fame is letting you shoot 3D pictures and even 3D videos. Movies such as Avatar are drumming up interest in 3D as never before. Consumer electronics giants are introducing 3D TVs that are practically begging for 3D content to show on them.

Yet Fujifilm has been ultraconservative in pushing the FinePix Real 3D W1 camera that I've been testing. Though Fuji started selling the W1 in the U.S. at the end of September, the camera has had limited distribution. Fuji only just made it available for review. Having now used it in and around New York City for a week, I understand Fuji's reluctance.

The $600 camera is simply too complicated for the average consumer. Many of its 3D images come off as gimmicky, almost hologram-like. The quality of 3D videos isn't exactly Avatar-worthy either. You often have to move your head to get to the proper viewing sweet spot when looking at images directly on the back of the camera or on the optional $500 3D digital photo frame, a headache waiting to happen. There's a cautionary note in the manual aimed at folks who experience discomfort viewing 3D.

Moreover, depending on how you want to display or edit 3D images, you may have to download third-party (but thankfully free) software off the Web.

Give Fuji props for pushing the technological envelope. I suspect many 3D enthusiasts will be thrilled. For all their flaws, viewing the pictures is fun, at least initially. My family expressed glee at the first 3D images I displayed on the camera's 2.8-inch LCD monitor. Even better, you can view 3D without special glasses. In my shots, close-ups around the kitchen table showed 3D effects better than pictures of the Statue of Liberty taken from the Staten Island Ferry. But even Fuji acknowledges the W1 may require a little too much effort for mass consumer acceptance. A closer focus:

•The basics. The W1 is handsome and sturdy. It has two separate Fujinon lenses, each with a 3X optical zoom, as well as twin 10-megapixel image sensors. Though the camera is pocket-size, the extra circuitry coupled with a larger than typical battery results in a point-and-shoot that's much bigger and (at 10-plus ounces) heftier than normal. Various menu controls flank the display on the rear of the camera, but I found these awkward and complicated. Until I got used to the camera, I also inadvertently covered one of the lenses on occasion while shooting. Pictures are captured on standard SD memory cards.

•How it works. The camera exploits "stereoscopic" technology. Images (and videos) from the two lenses are captured from slightly different angles. These are processed together, providing the 3D effect. The 3D images you shoot are captured in what's called a multipicture MPO format. The way Fuji explains it, the MPO format is kind of a "wrapper" around two standard images that are simultaneously captured in the common JPG format. (Under certain advanced camera settings, images aren't captured simultaneously, but rather a moment apart, useful for snapping 3D pictures of distant objects.)

The formatting allows the "stereo" image to be recognized when you transfer pictures to another device or computer. Without the MPO wrapper, you'd have two JPGs that have no particular relationship to one another. It's worth noting that on a PC, MPO files can't display the kind of preview thumbnails that JPGs can generate, making it hard to know which image you're working with. The 3D images you take with the camera are of a larger file size, too — typically 5 MB to 6 MB — so you can't store as many on an SD card. You can fine-tune the 3D effect after taking a picture, through an on-camera control known as parallax.

3D videos are captured in the stereo AVI format. But Fuji is playing this up more as a 3D still camera. You can also snap regular pictures. Having two lenses and sensors lets you take advantage of neat stunts. For example, you can capture two images at once so that one is black and white and the other color. Or you can take two shots where one picture is from a wide vantage point while the other is a close-up.

•Admiring images. Viewing 3D images on the back of the camera only goes so far. To save and view images on a PC in various formats, I downloaded free third-party software, StereoPhoto Maker. Using the software, I donned 3D spectacles and viewed images in the "anaglyph" format familiar to people who have worn cheesy cardboard 3D glasses over the years. You see the 3D effect but lose natural color. Images taken with the camera are also compatible with the emerging Nvidia 3D system on computers (for which better glasses are used).

You can order 3D prints, too. Samples Fuji showed me looked cool, and they don't require glasses. At $6.99 each, they are pricey, though, and you must wait up to two weeks for uploaded images to get processed by a lab in Japan and mailed.

I can't recommend the W1 for most users in its current iteration. But given the promise of 3D and Fuji's head start, I'm hoping they give it another shot.

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